The goal of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) Nutrition Training Grant is to train pre- doctoral students in integrative nutrition research so that they will become the future leaders in the basic and applied aspects of the science of nutrition. Given that 67% of American adults are overweight/obese and 17% of children are also obese, obesity and diabetes are a major focus of the UNC-CH Department of Nutrition. In addition, however, our faculty members have active research programs in the areas of cancer, brain development, genetics, immunology, nutritional influences on environmental contaminants and cardiovascular disease. We are thus well qualified to train scholars to pursue solutions to both the obesity/diabetes epidemic and to other critical problems in nutrition. Our training program provides a solid foundation for careers in academia by providing a strong core of instruction in nutritional biochemistry, metabolism, epidemiology, intervention programs and policy. Because the UNC-CH Department of Nutrition is uniquely located in both a School of Medicine and a School of Public Health, it focuses effectively on both the public health and medical science foundations of nutrition research; our pre-doctoral Trainees have the advantage of our collaborations across both public health and medical disciplines. The field of Nutrition demands broadly trained investigators who take an integrated approach that relates molecular events to behavior, population trends, and whole body metabolism. Nutrition scientists must understand not only the basic science that forms the foundation of nutrition, but also understand how foods and nutrients influence the health of populations and be able to lead the integration of nutritional concepts into evidence based interventions that impact human lives. Finally, training in the development and promotion of policy guidelines that link scientific research to the needs of the population with respect to diet and activity are also a component of the education of our graduate students. Our training program at UNC ensures that our graduates are broadly exposed to nutritional biochemistry, nutritional epidemiology and nutrition interventions and policy, culminating in a specialization in one of these three areas.